Growth-oriented performance demands sustained entrepreneurial efforts

Once upon a time, over the years, a company had
consistently grown from strength to strength. By now, most
of the old employees had retired and the new employees
were unable to sustain the growth.

The CEO was worried and he thought that since the
assets of the company were the employees, so most probably
either the company had hired the wrong type of employees
or they were not sufficiently trained. He called the HR
manager, who said that the employees were from the best B schools
and possessed impeccable qualifications. The CEO
was not satisfied and he sought the services of a consultant.

The consultant observed that the employees had received
so much formal education, due to which they only followed
tried and tested ways of doing things. They were reluctant to
experiment with new and untried methods, remaining
content with following the much traveled path, even if it
ultimately led to mediocrity. This resulted in stagnancy and
the company had stopped growing.

The consultant concluded that the employees suffered
from a lack of entrepreneurial spirit. To confirm his
suspicion, he took the CVs of the old employees, changed
their names and addresses, and put them between the list of
job applicants. Not a single CV of the old employees was
selected for an interview. The reason cited was that they
were not a “good fit” for the company.

The CEO called the entire HR department and told them
that the CVs they had rejected, were the CVs of the
founding fathers, the entrepreneurs, and the pioneers of the
company, who according to them were not a “good fit” for
the company! Thereafter, he assigned the consultant to
conduct sufficient training, so that the employees became
more entrepreneurial in their job functions. Soon, the
company came out of its stagnancy and started once again,
to grow from strength to strength.